About Me
Hello and welcome! 👋
I am currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Biostatistics Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG), National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH). I have the great privilege of working with Senior Principal Investigators Paul S. Albert and Jianxin Shi, whose mentorship continues to shape how I think about statistics, science, and meaningful research questions.
I earned my Ph.D. in Mathematical Statistics in 2025 from the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD). I was very fortunate to be advised by Prof. Doron Levy and co-mentored by Senior Principal Investigators Paul S. Albert, Jianxin Shi and Hyokyoung G. Hong through the NIH Graduate Partnerships Program (GPP).
Before UMD, I received my Master’s degree in Mathematics (2016) from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), mentored by Profs. Xinan Ma and Hui Liu. I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics (2014) at Nanjing Normal University (NNU), under the guidance of Prof. Yujun Dong.
In short: I have been happily doing math for quite a while now — and somehow it keeps getting more interesting. 😊
Research Interests
My research sits at the intersection of statistics and public health. I am broadly interested in developing state-of-the-art statistical methods while asking scientifically meaningful questions about the etiology of human diseases.
More specifically, I work on:
- Statistical modeling for correlated biomedical outcomes, including longitudinal data analysis, diagnostic testing, and biomarker studies (where the data are often messy, dependent, and fascinating).
- Statistical and computational methods for electronic health records (EHR), real-world data (RWD), and large-scale population studies (e.g., the PLCO Cancer Screening Trial), with a particular focus on genetic data analysis for precision risk stratification and early detection of prostate cancer.
- Applications of statistical methods — including machine learning (ML), deep learning and large language models (LLMs) — to cancer genetic epidemiology, nutritional research, and metabolomics.
I am especially motivated by problems where rigorous methodology meets real-world clinical impact.
Hobbies
Beyond research, I enjoy spending time outdoors — hiking, kayaking, skiing, swimming, dancing and playing badminton. If it involves fresh air or movement, I’m usually in.
I also love exploring new places and restaurants (statistical sampling, but for food). I’m an avid reader, particularly books on art, aesthetics, and Eastern philosophy, and I maintain a regular meditation practice to stay grounded — which turns out to be quite helpful when models refuse to converge.
Recent News
- 2026-07-12: I will present our work on genetic contributions to longitudinal phenotypes (with Xiaoyu Wang, Jianxin Shi, and Paul S. Albert) at the International Biometric Conference (IBC) 2026 in Seoul, Republic of Korea.
- 2025-08-03: I presented our work on genetic insights into PSA velocity at the Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) 2025 in Nashville, United States.
- 2025-07-08: Honored to receive the NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence (FARE) 2026 (top 25% of all applicants).
- 2025-05-30: Gave a 3-minute lightning talk at the 17th Annual DCEG Fellows’ Training Symposium — possibly the fastest I have ever spoken about statistics.
- 2025-03-22: Our paper “Mixed Modeling Approach for Characterizing the Genetic Effects in a Longitudinal Phenotype” (with Paul S. Albert and Hyokyoung G. Hong) was accepted by Annals of Applied Statistics.
